Emma Harper (Applegate) was born in 1890 in Wisconsin. She attended Lawrence College (now University) in Appleton, Wisconsin. There she joined Alpha Delta Pi and was a member of Theta Alpha, an honorary. Treasurer of her class, she was also a member of the Student Senate, YWCA Board, and Mortar Board.
Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), November 10, 1914
After graduating in 1915, she spent a year as an assistant librarian at Lawrence. Then she began teaching English in the Appleton school system.
During World War I, when women’s opportunities to be of service during the war were quite limited, she became part of the YWCA effort. In 1918, she went to Europe with the YWCA and served a year as a librarian in France.
A description of her from her passport application
She also had to attest that she had no male relatives in Europe and that she was not signing up because she wanted to be near someone overseas.
After her return to Appleton she resumed her teaching duties. On October 26, 1921, she married Captain Harry Sammons Applegate.
She was a dedicated volunteer. Applegate was the Michigan State President of the League of Women Voters from 1936-38. She also served as the top officer of the Michigan Veterans of Foreign Wars auxiliary.
Lansing State Journal, May 2, 1937
Applegate gave a program on our “South American Neighbors” to the South Lansing Women’s Club in October 1943. “Women can exert tremendous influence in post war relations if they will only use their power,” she told the group, according to a newspaper account of the meeting.
In the early 1944 she ran for the nomination to the state house of representatives but her attempt was unsuccessful.
She helped set up psychiatric clinics for soldiers, served in a governor’s commission on government and was a member of the women’s division of the Lansing safety council.
After the death of her husband in 1944, she returned to teaching and spent a decade from 1946-1956 teaching in Lansing, Michigan, high schools.
Applegate attended the installation banquet of Alpha Delta Pi’s Gamma Omega chapter at Michigan State University on April 7, 1956. Her program booklet is part of Alpha Delta Pi’s historical collection.
She died on July 1, 1968 at the age of 76.
